Welcome to Nana’s Garden! I have often said that my garden is my happy place. As I’ve gone through life many things have changed, but my love of gardening has remained constant. My parents were big gardeners. We always had a garden, although I must admit that when I was growing up, it seemed like way too much work for me. Age and maturity do work wonders, and soon after my college years I caught the gardening bug big time.
I began thinking about starting a garden blog over the winter, and while it may seem an unlikely time to start the blog, there really isn’t a time of year when I’m not thinking about my garden. Last year I even made plans to build a hoop house which would span 2 of my garden beds next to our garage. It would be something to put up in October and take down in April.
As time for construction grew nearer, I researched which types of plants would do best in a hoop house, thinking that it would be so nice to pick beans and fresh zucchini during the winter. I was disappointed to learn that leafy greens were the best option. Not that there’s anything bad about that, it just wasn’t what I had envisioned. So my dream of gardening year round took a bit of a hit. Needless to say, I scrapped the idea.
Then something happened. I was gifted 3 mini garden greenhouses from someone who was moving and needed to get rid of them. I gave one to my sister and set up the other 2 in my garden beds. What a delight! We have been enjoying garden greens all winter. The little greenhouses (and their precious contents) easily survived our single digit temperatures and our 2-foot snowfalls. Most of all, they satisfied my need for some off-season gardening.
I’ve also discovered that I do enjoy (and need) some downtime between garden seasons. Like clockwork, seed catalogs arrived shortly after Christmas.. Although I save many of my own seeds, I look through those catalogs with as much excitement and anticipation as I used to do with the Sears Christmas Wish Book!
I already ordered – and received – my seeds, and I’ve started a number of varieties for this year’s garden. I have been thinking about the coming garden season since last fall (maybe even longer) and I am eager to try some new things this year. Fortunately, my husband Paul is very supportive of my “growing” passion, especially since he’ll be doing a lot of the heavy work! On the list of new things? Some new garden beds, Pawpaws, grapevines, and Yacon.
As you can tell, gardening is in my soul. Over time, I’ve learned that I see things through a different lens – my “garden lens”. And my garden view includes our home, family, friends, and faith – all things that, when nurtured, grow and blossom, and produce a bountiful harvest. I hope you will come and visit with me from time to time. There is so much to do and so much to share. Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you again soon!
